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Discrimination / Harassment

Is mandatory retirement ever legal?

10/15/2014

Say you’ve got some older employees and you’re now wondering if they’re ever going to, you know, call it quits. Of course, you can’t give older workers a hard time so as to pressure them into leaving. That’s against the law. But could you maybe suggest—or even require—that they retire at a given age, say, 65 or 70?

How should we handle worker’s upcoming transgender transformation?

10/14/2014
Q. We have a male employee in our accounting department. He recently told us that he plans to start presenting himself as female and is thinking of undergoing surgery to transform to a female. We think we will have employees who are really uncomfortable with this situation, so we are wondering if we can terminate our accounting employee or if this might get us into trouble?

DSW agrees to pay $900,000 to settle age bias complaints

10/14/2014
Ohio-based shoe retailer DSW has agreed to pay $900,000 to seven former managers who were let go during the recession. The settlement covers DSW activities at its home office and throughout its Midwest region, which includes Minnesota.

Izza Bending Tube & Wire settles retaliation suit

10/14/2014
Buffalo, Minn.-based Izza Bending Tube & Wire has settled a retaliation suit filed by the EEOC. The suit alleged an employee had her salary cut, was demoted, laid off and ultimately terminated after she refused to discriminate against a black employee.

EEOC can bring case without alleged victim

10/14/2014
When the EEOC gets wind of alleged discrimination, it is free to investigate that practice and sue the employer—all without naming an actual victim.

Mets and owner Wilpon sued over pregnancy remarks

10/08/2014
The New York Mets and its owner, Jeff Wilpon, face charges the baseball team fired its head of ticket sales and marketing because she chose to have a child out of wedlock.

EEOC sues pawnshop chain, alleges harassment

10/08/2014
The EEOC has filed suit against the owner of Seapod Pawnbrokers, a chain of pawnshops in Brooklyn and Queens. The owner allegedly made disparaging remarks to his largely Hispanic female employees.

Pro se litigant can’t start over after firing counsel

10/08/2014
Some litigants don’t want to listen to their attorneys when it comes to case management. That can make it difficult to settle a case or even cooperate with the other side. And things can get worse if the employee fires counsel and wants the equivalent of a do-over. Fortunately, most judges won’t let that happen.

Negligence can’t stand in for discrimination in N.Y.

10/08/2014

Clever lawyers are always looking for ways to reach deeper into employer pockets. One tactic has been to add state negligence claims to run-of-the-mill discrimination cases. That won’t work anymore, at least as far as negligent hiring, supervision and retention claims are concerned.

Independent agency decision doesn’t extend time for filing EEOC complaint

10/08/2014
Employees only have 300 days to get their EEOC complaints in after being fired or otherwise being hit with an adverse employment action.